It stepped up it's game in it's war on the hobby this weekend. First victim was my new MTH PS-1 SP Cab Forward I got as a birthday gift. After getting it out, replacing the battery and doing a test lap and programming, it was time to lube it up for long running. I was at the table doing so when my other new locomotive, a MTH PS-1 PRR S-2, stopped dead on the track of my carpet layout. I jumped up to see what was wrong. By the time I got to the S-2, I heard a loud thud. I turned to see my Cab Forward now sitting on the floor! Like a cat, it was sitting on it's wheels. I quickly inspected it and placed it on the track. It still ran as it did before, nothing binding or making sounds. I lucked out somehow. But when I went to put it on the shelf, I did notice something, there are now flat spots on the tires. They are marked with a red arrow.
I guess it rolled off of the table, bounced off of my chair changing it's roll direction and hit the tile floor with the edge of the wheels, but with enough momentum that it completed the roll to upright. The chair and tile came out unharmed. Time to build a cradle it seems.
The next victim was my K-Line PRR caboose I got for Christmas. My wife was trying to put books on the bookshelf without moving the trains off of it first. Well, she knocked it off and it landed on it's front end. Bent the cat walk, popped the ladder out and cracked the plastic stairs. Sigh.
So this one needs some work. The catwalk is easy to bend back, but it popped out the rivets (They look like nails.) too. Do I just use some super glue to glue them back in? Putting the ladder back is no biggie either, it came out of the box that way when I got it so I've done it already. The chip missing from the steps I'll paint black and call good, but I don't know what to do about the crack. What have the rest of you done? Should I just fill it with super glue and paint it black? Is there something better to do? It still is attached and doesn't move, but I know it is weaker now, and don't want to worry about it breaking off if I try to move it more. The wife is fine, I forgave her (It was on her birthday.) as they are just toys after all. Costly toys, but still just toys and not worth getting upset over.
. Those flat spotted wheels can only be fixed by replacing the entire wheel, not an easy job and it requires a puller. I must say sinclair, you sure take these awful circumstances in stride.
